Chinese copy

noun

Slang: Usually Offensive.

an exact copy, including all errors.

Chinese copy

noun

an exact copy of an original

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Sensitive Note

This term is usually perceived as insulting to or by the Chinese. It may refer to the stereotype that Asian workers copy Western products and produce a cheaper version or to the notion that people whose native language is markedly different from English are incapable of recognizing errors in English writing. By the late 1800s, Chinese was being used in American military slang as an adjective meaning “inferior, clumsy, abnormal, etc.” See also Chinese.

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Word History and Origins

Origin of Chinese copy¹

First recorded in 1915–20

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Example Sentences

Examples have not been reviewed.

Ryan, 27 and unemployed, was armed with a Chinese copy of a Kalashnikov AK-47 and a variety of other guns.

From

The village was replicated in China’s Guangdong Province in 2012, and the Chinese copy has become a favorite attraction there.

From

Controversially, the Chinese copy was made without notifying, let alone asking permission of, anyone in Hallstatt.

From

“If I sell a vase for €800 and a Chinese copy costs €30, there’s no competition,” said Gino Seguso, the son of the late Archimede Seguso, one of the island’s best-known glass maestros.

From

At first, Forgeard was quoted as dismissing Boeing's new plane as a "Chinese copy" of Airbus' similar A330.

From Time Magazine Archive

Chinese Chippendale Chinese crescent

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